| BenefitsLink Retirement Plans Newsletter |   |
December 31, 2003 - 13,655 subscribers
Today's sponsor: World Research Group
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
Enhancing Retirement Education Programs January 25-27th, 2004, Scottsdale AZ Enhancing Retirement Education Programs will address strategies on program creation, design and maximization. Through insightful presentations of successful program designs, leading industry professionals will discuss how these strategies are working in their systems and their outlook for the future. WRG in association with the International Foundation for Retirement Education are producing Enhancing Retirement Education Programs to specifically address concerns surrounding retirement education, by providing the theory and practical application of program designs. Earn up to 17 InFRE CEUs by attending this event.
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Judge Rejects U.S. Airways Pension Request
Excerpt: "A judge has upheld a $2.1 billion government claim against US Airways, rejecting the airline's bid to reduce its huge liability for a pilots retirement plan that was terminated this year." (Reuters via Washington Post)
Local Pittsburgh Coverage: Judge Rules US Airways Overestimated Future Value of Pension
Excerpt: "A federal bankruptcy judge ruled Tuesday US Airways overestimated the future value of its pilots pension, handing a victory -- and a bigger share of the airline's stock -- to the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp." (PittsburghLive.com)
NY Times Coverage: Judge Rules Against US Airways on Calculating Pilots' Pensions
Excerpt: "In a ruling that could make it harder for financially troubled companies to reduce their pension obligations or shed them altogether, a federal bankruptcy judge has ruled that US Airways must calculate its pilots' pensions according to existing regulations, rejecting the airline's argument for a new method more favorable to the company." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Statement of PBGC Executive Director on Court Decision in US Airways Distress Termination
Excerpt: "This ruling is a victory for the financial integrity of the federal pension insurance system. It upholds the commonsense view that it should not be cheaper to terminate a pension plan with the PBGC than with a private insurance company." (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation)
Statement of US Airways on Decision of Bankruptcy Judge
Excerpt: "[T]he company has no financial exposure related to this decision, because if this ruling stands, the result will be that the PBGC will receive payment in the form of stock awarded to the unsecured creditors under the plan of reorganization." (PRNewswire via Yahoo! Finance)
Text of Actuarial Report of Plaintiffs' Expert in AT&T Cash Balance Conversion Case
Excerpt: "Declaration of Claude Poulin, F.S.A., M.A.A.A., E.A." (ERISAPensionClaims.com)
Corporate Pensions Face Pressure Despite Rally
Excerpt: "This year's stock market rally has added more than $100 billion to corporate America's depleted pension funds, but even that has not been enough to offset forces that continue to weaken the funds." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Retirement Planning the Monte Carlo Way
Excerpt: "A Monte Carlo simulation is a mathematical tool that offers a way to evaluate a retirement portfolio to see if it will last a lifetime. With the help of computer software, a planner can simulate hundreds or thousands of market-condition scenarios and learn the probability that your portfolio would last your expected lifetime." (Bankrate.com)
Bookmark: ERISA Pension Claims
Excerpt: "Welcome to ERISA Pension Claims, which informs class action plaintiffs of progress on pension claim lawsuits. Currently we provide court documents for the following class action lawsuits: AT&T Pension Class Action Lawsuit: Engers v. AT&T Management Pension Plan; CIGNA Pension Class Action Lawsuit: Amara v. CIGNA Corp, et al." (Attorney Stephen R. Bruce)
Failure of Plan Sponsor Causes Bitterness for ESOP Participants in Peoria
Excerpt: "Their retirement savings were lost. And there is likely no chance of ever seeing that money, after a federal judge ruled Tuesday that Foster & Gallagher executives acted fully within the law in regard to the employee stock ownership program." (PJStar.com)
Attorney Clarifies Our Link to Article on DOL Sarbanes-Oxley Notice Regulations
Excerpt: "I've been able to confirm through informal discussions with representatives from the DOL and the SEC (though unofficially) that, as the rest of the alert suggests, only one of the exceptions applies to exclude regularly scheduled blackout periods used by companies as a prophylactic measure to avoid insider trading problems under Rule 10b-5; the other exception does not apply." (Haynes and Boone LLP)
Text of IRS Notice 2004-8: Indirect Contributions to Roth IRAs Can Be 'Listed Transactions' (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department are aware of a type of transaction, described below, that taxpayers are using to avoid the limitations on contributions to Roth IRAs. This notice alerts taxpayers and their representatives that these transactions are tax avoidance transactions ..." (Internal Revenue Service)
True 'Market Timers' Upset About Mutual Fund Trading Scandal, Too
Excerpt: "Market timing, for those who haven't followed the mutual-fund scandal that broke in September, is the rapid-fire trading that allegedly allowed fund companies and their clients to benefit at the expense of ordinary investors.... But hold on a minute.... [Some investment managers] believe that by shifting money among different types of investments-- bonds, stocks, cash, real estate, gold-- they can avoid market downturns. That kind of strategy is what 'market timing' used to mean ..." (The Seattle Times)
Overview: SEC Proposed Rules on Disclosure Regarding Market Timing and Fair Value Pricing
Excerpt: "On December 11, 2003, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) issued proposed rules on disclosure regarding market timing, fair value pricing, and selective disclosure of portfolio holdings in an effort to prevent the recurring of some abusive practices that have surfaced in the mutual fund industry recently, including late trading, market timing, and selective disclosure." (Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Text of Final Class Exemption on Release of Claims and Extension of Credit as Part of Litigation (PDF)
9 pages; Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2003-39. Excerpt: "The exemption permits transactions engaged in by a plan, in connection with the settlement of litigation. This exemption was proposed in response to concerns raised by the pension community regarding the impact of ERISA's prohibited transaction provisions on the settlement of litigation by employee benefit plans with parties in interest." (U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration)
Opinion: FASB Keeps Getting It Wrong
Excerpt: "[T]he viability of our country's young startup companies is being compromised by recent actions taken by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). While we recognize the pressure placed on the FASB to issue standards more quickly, we have a grave concern that their 'rush to regulate' has needlessly burdened young companies in several ways." (Venture Capital Journal via Hoover's Online)
Dispute Over Expensing Stock Options Is Pitting FASB Against Congress
Excerpt: "FASB seems determined to force public companies to treat their employee stock options as an expense. But many members of Congress want to table the change or enact less stringent rules. The private accounting board hasn't clashed with Congress since 1994, when they fought over the same issue." (Investor's Business Daily via Yahoo! News)
Newly Posted Events
How to Reduce Your Healthcare Costs: Consumer Driven Health Delivery
in California on January 15, 2004
presented by Western Pension & Benefits Conference - Orange County Chapter
Discover2004: Solutions for Peak Performance
in Colorado on February 21, 2004
presented by DATAlynx and TRUSTlynx
Newly Posted Press Releases
The 412i Company presents "Legal and Illegal 412i Plans" in Miami Beach Jan 6-7 2004. 5 hrs. of CLE available
(The 412(i) Company)
Treasury and IRS Issue Guidance on Roth IRA Abuses
(U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service)
EmployeeMall Offers New Voluntary Benefit for Employers
(EmployeeMall)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Compliance Analyst
for Transamerica-The Winning Organization
in CA
Lead Project Manager
for Transamerica-The Winning Organization
in CA
Director of Sales
for Florida 1st Service Administrators, Inc.
in FL
Actuarial Assistant
for The Heintzberger Company
in OR
Project Manager-NBI
for Transamerica
in CA
Retirement Plan Installation Manager
for Simpkins & Associates (a regional admin firm with a Dallas opening)
in TX
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